February 24, 2016

"An Australian telescope used to broadcast live vision of man's first steps on the moon in 1969 has found hundreds of new galaxies hidden behind the Milky Way by using an innovative receiver that measures radio waves."

'The findings were reported in the latest issue of Astronomical Journal under the title The Parkes HI Zone of Avoidance Survey.

'"Hundreds of new galaxies were discovered, using the same telescope that was used to broadcast the TV pictures from Apollo 11," said Lister Staveley-Smith, a professor at the University of Western Australia's International Center for Radio Astronomy Research.

'"The electronic technology at the back end is substantially different and that is why we can still keep using these old telescopes," he said.

'The discoveries occurred as the scientists were investigating the region's close proximity to the Great Attractor, a gravity anomaly in intergalactic space.

'The Great Attractor appears to be drawing the Milky Way towards it with a gravitational force equivalent more than two million km per hour (1.24 million mph).

'Using radio waves has allowed scientists to see beyond dust and stars in the Milky Way that had previously blocked the view of telescopes, the study showed.'